Can you leave it all to the cat?
Howard Lake | 13 November 2005 | News
Stories of people ieaving all their estate to their cat or dog are not true, according to the Guardian. It’s not possible to bequeath an estate to an animal to spite one’s relatives, although it is of course possible to leave it all to an animal charity.
The myth was featured in “101 thing you were afraid to ask about money”, a regular column in Saturday’s Money supplement of The Guardian.Leaving money to an animal is not a legally possible act, it seems. An animal-loving person could however leave their money to an animal charity, and ask the charity to look after the animal after the owner’s death. Indeed, between two and three per cent of wills include a provision for an animal.
Various animal charities take advantage of this situation by encouraging this approach. The PDSA offers “peace of mind” arrangements to look after donors’ pets. It says its average legacy is worth £20,000. The RSPCA is this month launching its
Home for Life scheme in which it undertakes to look after donors’ pets or rehome them. The charity says that it receives 60% of its income from legacies.
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Anyone desperate to cut relatives out of the will and benefit their pet would probably be better advised to leave money to someone prepared to look after the animal.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.